China’s real estate market is facing a challenging time as the traditional peak season for sales, known as “Golden September and Silver October,” approaches. Despite this, there are no signs of stabilization in the housing market. The latest data from real estate research institutions shows that in August 2025, the prices of second-hand homes in 100 major cities continued to decrease, marking the 40th consecutive month of decline.
According to a report released by the China Index Research Institute on September 1st, the prices of second-hand residential properties in 100 cities continued to fall in August. The average price per square meter dropped by 0.76% month-on-month to 13,481 yuan (RMB), and a year-on-year decline of 7.34%.
In first-tier cities, the prices of second-hand residential properties fell by 0.55% month-on-month and 4.17% year-on-year. Second and third-fourth-tier city prices also saw a decline of 0.85% and 0.78% month-on-month, and 8.14% and 7.78% year-on-year, respectively.
In August, the average price of new homes was 16,910 yuan per square meter. With the introduction of “improvement projects” in some cities, there was a structural increase of 0.20% month-on-month and a 2.73% year-on-year rise.
It is generally believed that the sales of second-hand homes better reflect the true demand of the market compared to the new home market.
Regarding rental housing, as the effects of the graduation season gradually fade, the rental demand has slowed down. In the key 50 cities, the average rent for residential properties decreased by 0.15% month-on-month and 3.76% year-on-year to 34.88 yuan per square meter per month.
Additionally, the China Index Research Institute’s ranking of real estate enterprise sales performance from January to August indicated a 13.3% year-on-year decrease in the total sales of the top 100 real estate companies, reaching 2327.05 billion yuan. This decline was consistent with the performance from January to July.
The institute pointed out that all categories of real estate companies experienced a decline in sales. The average sales of the top 10 real estate companies amounted to 114.5 billion yuan, a 12.1% decrease from the previous year. The top 11-30 real estate companies saw a 15.4% drop, with an average sales amount of 287.2 billion yuan. The sales figures for the top 31-50 and top 51-100 real estate companies decreased by 10.9% and 15.4%, respectively.
According to data published by “CRIC Real Estate Research” on August 31st on its official WeChat account, in August, the top 100 real estate companies achieved a total sales amount of 207.04 billion yuan, representing a 1.9% decrease month-on-month and a 17.6% decrease year-on-year. The performance continued to remain at historically low levels, marking the sixth consecutive month of decline in sales for the top 100 real estate companies.